The PMO is aggressively trying to limit reporters' access. On Monday, Parliamentary security personnel were made to herd journalists away from Harper's office, where a photo op involving cancer-stricken youngsters giving Prime Minister Stephen Harper daffodils was in progress.

Update:This Paul Wells blog posting is probably the best commentary I've seen so far.

From her column Panic in the Newspaper Biz, distributed by Creator's Syndicate and found by myself on truthout:

I've thought for years that newspapers should all be owned by nonprofits. There is a chance something like this will actually happen-the Newspaper Guild, in alliance with the Communications Workers of America, is getting ready to bid on the 12 KR papers McClatchy has to sell. Eight of the 12 are Guild papers, with combined employment of 7,000 and circulation of 1.3 million. Among the 12 are such outstanding newspapers as The Philadelphia Inquirer, San Jose Mercury News and St. Paul Pioneer Press.

    McClatchy can't swallow all of them, and so the two unions have turned to a "worker-friendly" investment fund to back their bid. Keep an eye on this: It is a most hopeful development.

I also liked this bon mot that kicked the column off:

I don't so much mind that newspapers are dying - it's watching them commit suicide that pisses me off.

From an NYT article on the new book by magazine editor Bonnie Fuller titled The Joys of Much Too Much:

... Ms. Fuller says she grew up "a geeky, Canadian Jewish girl from a dysfunctional family."

Along the way, she was treated badly by the cool set and suffered from minimal fashion sense, even as she relentlessly pursued a career in fashion journalism — propelled, she said, by her insecurities.

At Cosmopolitan and Glamour, she did not take maternity leaves, setting a whole new standard for pregnant editors. "I'm not embarrassed to say I was reading proofs in the delivery room," she writes.

Not even a little embarrassed?

As the  McClatchy company prepares to sell 12 of the Knight-Ridder newspapers it just bought, prospective suitors have one main question on their mind: Will buying one of the papers help make them a regional superpower?

Technology journalist Edward Tenner wonders if the brilliant technology behind Google has had a negative impact on the critical faculties of students, who used to have to work their brains to create a decent search query.

In addition, he criticizes Google for basing search results in part on links to a page, which he likens to citation analysis in the natural sciences -- a practice which could leave some very useful information buried.